Anvil – the real Spinal Tap

A documentary following eighties heavy metal pioneers Anvil has rescued the
band from obscurity and looks set to turn their fortunes around.

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Heavy metal band AnvilPhoto: BRENT J. CRAIG

Image 1 of 4

Heavy metal band AnvilPhoto: BRENT J. CRAIG

Image 1 of 4

Heavy metal band AnvilPhoto: BRENT J. CRAIG

Image 1 of 4

Heavy metal band AnvilPhoto: BRENT J. CRAIG

By Andrew Perry

12:23PM GMT 18 Feb 2009

Heavy metal, it seems, makes for great cinema. From the immortal spoof documentary, This Is Spinal Tap, through to Metallica's psychoanalytical farce, Some Kind of Monster, metal's ludicrous excesses in amplification and attire have transferred like a dream on the silver screen.

A new film, however, looks set to surpass all the existing classics – to go "one louder", according to Spinal Tap's time-honoured vernacular.

On national release from Friday, Anvil! The Story of Anvil follows the pitiful fortunes of a real-life heavy metal band from Canada.

In the early 1980s, Anvil were contenders. The band's ultra-heavy, proto-thrash sound would prove influential on numerous acts from Metallica to Guns N' Roses.

But, while their disciples laughed all the way to the bank, Anvil sank into obscurity.

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The film joins them in 2005, as they work in menial jobs to fund what proves to be a disastrous comeback tour.

It is, of course, both tragic and absurd, watching men in their fifties doggedly pursuing their music for such a paltry return.

Anvil!... is, though, one of the most moving and inspiring films I have ever seen. It has aptly been described as 'Rocky with Marshall Amplification'.

"It's not so much a documentary, as a reality movie," says Kudlow, when I meet the band, and the director, Sacha Gervasi, as their feverish promotional schedule hits London.

Kudlow is exactly as he is on screen, dishevelled and hilarious, often quite unintentionally spouting what could easily be lost dialogue from Spinal Tap.

"But that's not to say it's like reality TV," he continues. "It wasn't like, 'Let's get you guys to do this, or do that'. There's no acting in it – it wouldn't have come off. A reality movie is a lot deeper, you get right into the nitty gritty. What you have is a beautiful, natural demonstration of how important a band is to the band themselves."

Initially, though, some doubted whether Anvil were even a real band, or whether maybe Gervasi had mocked up scenes, to exaggerate the truth.

Incredibly, the director, who is a high-flying Hollywood scriptwriter, was a fan of the band as a teenager, and spent two years as Reiner's drum roadie (they called him "Tea bag", because he was English).

One thing Gervasi simply could not have scripted: Anvil!... – and, indeed, Anvil now stand on the cusp of becoming a worldwide phenomenon.

"We showed the film at the Los Angeles Film Festival, to 1,300 people in an outdoor amphitheatre," says Gervasi, with evident glee, "Then, afterwards, the band played live. Lips suddenly appeared under a spotlight, standing on a column 25 feet in the air, and people went completely crazy. It was like the characters, who you've fallen in love with on screen, were suddenly there, and the audience were giving the film a happy ending, by cheering them."

In the wake of such advance screenings, Anvil have experienced a remarkable reversal of fortune. They've been signed by Slayer's manager, and Coldplay's booking agent, and, as the movie hits cinemas around the world, will be fielding contractual offers from all the record companies, who have repeatedly turned them down since the mid-eighties.

They already have a title for their fourteenth album: Juggernaut of Justice. There is also a fans' campaign under way in America to pressurise Metallica to take them out on the road as their support act.

"If all this adulation had happened on the first album," says Reiner, ever quietly philosophical, "we all would've been thirty years younger, and not been able to handle it. It's a beautiful time in our lives to be going on this journey."

"As a kid, you don't appreciate it," adds Kudlow. "What's happening to us now is so appreciated. It's like going through a desert your whole life, and then finding an oasis. You appreciate that oasis. You don't think there's going to be another one, ten feet down the road." He grins. "This is it, man!"